Ties That Bind
by IceShadow
Summary: A little downtime with the Fudomine boys, Tachibana's POV.


Pairings: Various Implied

Disclaimor: Not mine..

_A little something I was doing during break for the FudoCourts ficathon on livejournal. If you love Fudomine and have a livejournal head over there for some FudoFun._

OoooooooooooooooO

Black eyes drifted over the living room, forms spread on the carpet, draped over chairs or curled in on themselves. Scattered like leaves along the tan carpet, soft breathing echoing above the movie that whispered on the screen, turned down so the noise wouldn't wake anyone.

Tachibana looked at his teammates, who were far more then that, in fact they were far more then that long before Kippei had come. He always took opportunities to observe them all, take every inch of them in to understand them better, to become part of them like they had all become part of each other.

Sometimes the world felt like it stopped, paused in a breath of a moment and left everything suspended. Like now, as black overtook the screen as the movie ended, credits over and forgotten. The atmosphere stood still, movements muted in the darkness as only the gray light from the dark screen fell on forms, like a black and white Polaroid. The silence began to fracture and break as the strains of melody drifted to his ears.

Kamio's headphones were on, as they always were. Asleep on top of a mound of pillows along with a mumbling Shinji, whose words began to become crystal clear in the silent room. The breathing of the others, the creaks in the wood of the house, his ears straining to hear everything and nothing all at once as the silence became all but quiet.

Tachibana sighed, resting his hand on the arm of the couch, his leg tilting to rest against Ishida's side. The tallest of the regulars usually slept sitting up, futons were uncomfortable when half of you wasn't on them and sometimes when he stood up too fast he got dizzy. He purred when he slept, not quite a snore and not exactly heavy breathing, but a buzzing thrum of air that jiggled his uvula and made him sound like a large housecat. His face was so calm, muscles relaxed, mouth closed and chin resting against his chest where his arms were crossed over his t-shirt clad torso.

Eyes moved to the next body, which shifted just as his sight passed over him. Sakurai's head lolled back onto Ishida's shoulder, mouth hung open and snoring loudly into the other's ear. Tetsu didn't even flinch as his doubles partner's body supported itself against his frame, sagging deep into sleep. The purr turned into a sigh, brief and almost unnoticeable to the untrained ear, bandana covered head flopped to the side and rested against the slick-backed hair of Masaya. The two settled together as if it were the most natural of positions.

Mori had practically disappeared in the thick comforter he had claimed when the whole crew had settled down to watch the movie. His feet were shoved underneath Sakurai's legs, seeking warmth for the bare appendages. Spiky hair poked out from the top of the blanket, the rest wrapped around his torso and obscuring his face though one hand poked out and was stuffed inside of Uchimura's sleeve, crawling up along his arm and finding warmth in the smallest members armpit of all places.

Kyosuke ended up half in the blanket and half out of it, his legs disappeared in the comforter, tangled in some unfathomable way around Mori. Tachibana's head tilted from one side to the other, coming to the conclusion that the hat wearer of the group must of folded them and stuck them between the other's legs. The tangle was definitely hard to consider when you really couldn't discern one from the other underneath the bulky comforter.

Uchimura's head rested on the mountain of pillows against Kamio's arm, neck bent and hat pulled over his eyes. Chest rose and fell slowly, breathing silent and hands resting on either side of his body, though the fingers of one hand curled around the invading arm of Tatsunori.

Kamio's fingers twitched to the beat, arm flung over his head and bumped up against the back of Kyosuke's neck. His body remained in motion constantly, just like Shinji spoke continuously. They seemed to compliment each other in every way, always and forever. The two were curled up on the pillow pile, Shinji's face was buried in Akira's neck, resting on the redhead's shoulder, obviously not disrupted by the loud music pouring from the head phones. One of Akira's hands tangled in the blue-black strands of Ibu's hair, coiling the long tresses around pale fingers. Shinji's hand rested over Kamio's heart, the beat pulsing beneath sensitive fingertips.

Tachibana sighed and shook his head, settling back into the couch cushions. He had been a fool to try and insert himself between the pair, his attempts had almost broke apart the fragile string that had bound him to this group, the string he was trying to entangle as deeply as everyone else had knotted theirs, desperate to be a part of this greater whole. So he had stepped back and let the friendships intertwine again, the hurts forgiven so he could start again. He was a part of the weave now, not so easy to get rid of or forget anymore.

It was almost time to try again, and his observances might help him or they might not. For now he was content to watch them all, know their faces and habits like his own, understanding what bound them together and becoming entrenched in them as if they were him.

His eyes wandered across the group one last time, each one connected to the other through touch. A chain of blood that ran through them all, starting with him and ending with Shinji. Closing those deep black eyes, pondering on how to wrap that chain into a circle, so that there was no beginning, but a constant circle of flesh and blood.


End file.
